Fall colors - leaves and critters

This Eastern red newt (eft life stage) blended nicely into the fall colors; seen while working on Isis' 'tick gardens' today.   Plus a fungus shot ...

The Project Team in Boston (and Lyme) for ICLB2013

 

 

 

Red, Rainy Georgia Clay ....

After it rains, the roads around Tall Timbers Research Station, FL, get greasy.  Sure 'nuff, Graham gets the MSU truck stuck ...

Time to call AAA; except the AAA truck immediately gets stuck too!

 

The second AAA truck driver to arrive is wiser to the ways of Georgia clay - he holds himself in place with winch cables strung to the roadside trees.

 

Then hauls both stuck vehicles back up the hill ...

Tick Gardens: creating new habitat for our friends the spiders ...

Yes, it's a Black Widow - isn't she gorgeous?

Visiting the 'Driftless Area' - origin of Lyme disease ticks in the Midwest?

'Lyme disease' is named for Lyme, Connecticut, where spread of the disease by ticks was first recognized.  But the earliest case report of this disease in the U.S. in fact came from Wisconsin, on the the edge of the 'Driftless Area' - a rugged plateau that remained ice-free during the Wisconsinan glaciation.  This area is the likely geographic origin of blacklegged tick populations that have expanded rapidly in the Midwest since the 1950s.

Love red meat? Then watch out for Lone Star ticks!

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal:  http://on.wsj.com/1bqpQAa

A springtime cluster of nymphal blacklegged ticks in one of the 'tick gardens'

Lizard live-captures at Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida

Welcome to Meghan, one of our Research Experience for Undergraduate students this summer.  With help from Gena, she had success catching lizards for tick-checks first day on the job in Florida!

WATCH A VIDEO CLIP ON VIMEO

 

 

 

Lyme Gradient Team Meeting, Knoxville

Blacklegged ticks in a Knoxville city park

Update (March 15, 2013):  These ticks have now been PCR-tested for presence of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi.  None tested positive, which is consistent with the results of several previous surveys we have conducted at other locations  in Tennessee.

 

 

 

Some closeups (testing a new lens)

Tick eggs, and a male blacklegged tick climbing on a human arm ...

 

Eastern Seaboard Tick Tour; Winter 2013